Why Olivia Jade Has Not Spoken To Her Parents Since They Went To Prison

By now, we've all heard about Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli's youngest daughter Olivia Jade, and how her parents are now in prison for taking part in the large-scale college admissions bribery ring that landed Olivia Jade's parents on covers of tabloids and newspapers across the nation for all the wrong reasons. The scandal made Olivia Jade something of a poster child for extreme white privilege, and now, for the first time, she is coming forward and speaking out about what she and her family have learned and how she is feeling now that both of her parents are behind bars (via TMZ).

The young woman appeared on Jada Pinket Smith's talk show Red Table Talk on December 8 to discuss the situation (via Facebook). When asked why she decided to appear on the show, Olivia Jade replied that she had seen the show before and felt she would be heard and not attacked by her hosts. "I've watched the show and it feels safe," she said, "but it also feels honest and we are all gonna lay it out here." And lay it out, she did. 

When asked how she feels with both parents in prison, she replied, "It's been hard." She went on to say, however, she believes it is the first step toward getting past what happened, and that serving their time is "necessary for us to move on or move forward."

She was then asked if she and her parents ever discusses what had happened, and she said yes, explaining, "We definitely did ... I think what hasn't been super public is that there is no justifying or excusing what happened. What happened was wrong," Olivia Jade admitted. She went on to say, "What's important is to learn form the mistake ." She then plead her own case, saying that she herself is learning from the mistake and therefore doesn't believe she should be "shamed and punished." She said that as a young person of 21, "I feel I deserve a second chance."

When asked if she had spoken to either of her parents since they began serving their sentences, Olivia Jade admitted she hasn't, saying, "I haven't spoken to either of them. There is a quarantine phase due to COVID, so I think that may be why." She went on to say that not speaking to her mother was particularly difficult for her. "It's been really hard not to talk to her but I now she's strong and I know it's a good reflection period ... she gets to rethink everything that happened," she said.